Market Signals Align with Georgia’s Life Sciences Roadmap
A new national outlook on the life sciences real estate market is reinforcing what many in Georgia’s ecosystem have been building toward: a more disciplined, workforce-driven, and manufacturing-focused future for the industry.
CBRE’s 2026 U.S. Life Sciences Market Outlook points to a sector in transition—moving away from rapid, speculative expansion toward a more measured phase defined by targeted growth, capital efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
For Georgia, these trends are not just informative—they are validating.
A Market Reset Creates Opportunity
After several years of rapid expansion in major coastal markets, the national lab space market is recalibrating. Construction has slowed significantly, and vacancy rates—while still elevated—are stabilizing.
This shift favors emerging markets like Georgia that have taken a more measured approach to growth.
Rather than contending with oversupply, Georgia is well-positioned to scale intentionally—aligning infrastructure, workforce, and industry demand in a way that supports long-term success.
Manufacturing and Scale-Up Are Driving Growth
One of the clearest signals from the CBRE report is the increasing role of large pharmaceutical and biomanufacturing investments in driving demand.
This aligns directly with Georgia’s recent momentum.
From major facility expansions to increased interest in onshoring and domestic production, the Southeast—and Georgia in particular—is becoming a destination for advanced manufacturing in the life sciences.
The Georgia Life Sciences Roadmap has consistently emphasized this opportunity:
- Strengthening biomanufacturing capacity
- Building workforce pipelines to support production scale
- Positioning Georgia as a hub for both innovation and commercialization
Workforce as the Differentiator
As capital becomes more selective and companies prioritize execution, talent—not space—is emerging as the defining constraint.
Georgia’s investments in workforce development, including partnerships with the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Bioscience Training Center, position the state to meet this moment.
Through coordinated efforts across education, industry, and government, Georgia is building the kind of workforce infrastructure that enables companies to not only locate here—but to grow here.
A Converging Ecosystem
Another key trend highlighted in the report is the convergence of life sciences with adjacent sectors such as digital health, robotics, and advanced technologies. This is an area where Atlanta stands out.
With strengths in medtech, health IT, and data-driven healthcare solutions, the region offers a broader definition of “life sciences”—one that reflects where the industry is headed, not where it has been.
Looking Ahead
The national life sciences sector is entering a new phase—one that rewards strategic alignment, ecosystem coordination, and long-term investment.
Georgia is not starting from scratch in this environment. It has been building toward it. The Georgia Life Sciences Roadmap anticipated many of these shifts, prioritizing:
- Workforce development
- Manufacturing and scale-up capacity
- Industry-academic collaboration
- Capital and commercialization pathways
As national trends continue to evolve, Georgia’s focus on disciplined, intentional growth positions the state—and the broader Southeast—as a compelling partner in the next chapter of the life sciences industry.
Read report - CBRE Chapter 9, Life Sciences - U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook 2026
https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/us-real-estate-market-outlook-2026/life-sciences
Increasingly high bond rates are having important implications for the U.S. life sciences ecosystem – and underscore the role of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and other pro-competitive partnerships in advancing innovation. The upshot. Developing a new medicine requires significant and sustained investment over many years. This makes the life sciences industry especially sensitive to changes in the cost and availability of capital. With financial conditions tightening, a predictable environment for life sciences M&A is critical to sustaining investment in the next generation of cutting-edge treatments and cures. Why bond rates matter. It can cost billions and take more than a decade to bring a new treatment or cure to patients. Often, these companies operate without a profit and rely on outside investment (such as venture capital) to finance this high-stakes journey. When relatively low-risk investments like U.S. Treasury bonds offer stronger returns, investors need significantly greater potential returns to justify betting on riskier, long-term investments, such as drug development. The cost to early-stage life sciences investment. For emerging life sciences companies, less available capital can mean fewer resources to advance promising science and fewer new cures reaching patients. Research from NBER estimated that an unexpected one-percentage-point increase in interest rates reduces R&D spending across industries by approximately 1–3% and venture investment by roughly 25% over the following one to three years. M&A as an investment incentive. A healthy M&A environment provides a critical incentive for investors to support high-risk science by offering a potential exit. The prospect of an acquisition allows investors to realize returns from financing early-stage research – and reinvest that capital in the next generation of treatments and cures. M&A helps advance promising innovation. M&A is similarly vital to turning the promising science that attracted investment into approved medicines for patients. Emerging companies contribute specialized scientific knowledge and innovative drug candidates – but often depend on partnerships with larger, more established companies to access the clinical-development expertise, regulatory capabilities and infrastructure needed to bring medicines to patients. The evidence reinforces this complementary relationship. Findings from Cornerstone Research show that drug projects acquired from smaller companies by firms with prior launch experience were three times more likely to launch – and five times more likely to launch as novel drugs – than projects acquired by another small firm. A predictable pathway forward. When higher bond rates raise the bar for investing in innovation, policymakers should avoid adding unnecessary barriers to an already challenging investment environment. A predictable and balanced approach to merger enforcement can help preserve life sciences M&A as a vital pathway for transforming promising scientific discoveries into new medicines for patients. Source: Importance of Life Sciences M&A Amid Rising Interest Rates - Partnership for the U.S. Life Science Ecosystem (PULSE)
CEO Note: A New Political Landscape, A Continued Commitment to Georgia Life Sciences Georgia's 2026 election results mark a historic shift in the state's political landscape, setting the stage for a new administration, new statewide leadership, and a potentially changed balance of power in the General Assembly as we approach the 2027 legislative session. At the national level, Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress , creating a new dynamic for federal policymaking. With the presidency remaining under Republican leadership, the coming years will require bipartisan cooperation to advance legislation. Changes in congressional leadership and committee oversight could significantly affect healthcare, federal research funding, FDA policy, drug pricing, and patient access. The most significant changes for our industry, however, are happening here in Georgia. Keisha Lance Bottoms' victory in the gubernatorial race marks a historic transition in state leadership, ending more than two decades of Republican control of the Governor's Office. She will also become the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history. Democrats also swept Georgia's statewide executive offices , including lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and the commissioners responsible for agriculture, labor, and insurance. These leadership changes create new opportunities for engagement on the policies and investments that shape Georgia's economy. In the General Assembly, Democrats made substantial gains and appear positioned to take control of the Georgia House of Representatives , pending final results in several close races. Republicans retained a narrowed majority in the State Senate. This potentially divided legislative environment will require thoughtful engagement and collaboration across party lines. We can also expect considerable turnover in the General Assembly, with dozens of new legislators beginning their terms in January. Along with a new Governor and incoming administration, this creates an important opportunity to introduce policymakers to Georgia's life sciences industry, its economic contributions, and its potential for future growth. What Does This Mean for Georgia's Life Sciences Industry? Life sciences is an economic development priority that should transcend party lines. Our industry's growth depends on a combination of sound public policy, private investment, research, workforce development, infrastructure, and a business environment that encourages innovation and commercialization. As Georgia establishes its new leadership priorities, several areas will be particularly important: Economic Development and Manufacturing: Positioning Georgia to attract and retain biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and MedTech companies while advancing the infrastructure and capabilities needed to support scale-up manufacturing. Research and Commercialization: Strengthening connections between Georgia's research institutions, emerging companies, investors, and industry partners to move discoveries from the laboratory into commercial applications. Workforce Development: Expanding investment in technical education, apprenticeships, and industry-aligned training to prepare Georgians for the growing range of life sciences careers. Capital and Investment: Improving access to capital and supporting programs that help Georgia-based companies grow, commercialize technologies, and remain competitive. Healthcare Innovation and Patient Access: Supporting an environment that encourages medical innovation, advances research, and improves patient access to new treatments and technologies. These priorities align directly with Pathways & Partnerships: A Roadmap for Georgia's Life Sciences Sector , our ten-year strategy to position Georgia as a leading scale-up manufacturing hub in the Southeast. Georgia enters this transition with both an opportunity and a clear need to strengthen its competitiveness in life sciences. The recently released BIO/TEConomy report highlights the industry's significant contributions, including more than 42,600 jobs across over 4,200 establishments, while reinforcing the opportunity for Georgia to accelerate growth relative to other states. Our Roadmap provides a foundation for working with policymakers to turn these opportunities into sustained investment, stronger industry partnerships, and high-quality jobs throughout Georgia. GLS's Role Moving Forward For Georgia Life Sciences, this transition reinforces the importance of our role as the industry's statewide voice and convener. We will be intentional about building relationships with the incoming administration, new legislative leadership, returning legislators, and state agencies. We must ensure that policymakers understand not only the healthcare implications of our industry, but also its broader economic impact: high-quality jobs, significant research investment, advanced manufacturing, innovation, and opportunities for communities across Georgia. At the federal level, we will continue working with our national partners and Georgia's congressional delegation to advocate for policies that sustain research and innovation, support a predictable regulatory environment, strengthen American biomanufacturing, and advance patient access. With a new administration and many new legislators, we have an opportunity to establish a stronger understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a competitive life sciences ecosystem. That means bringing industry leaders to the table, communicating our priorities, identifying areas of bipartisan alignment, and advocating for policies that support long-term growth. Our industry's success requires a long-term commitment that extends beyond any election cycle or administration. The political landscape may change, but our commitment to advancing Georgia's life sciences industry remains constant. We look forward to working with leaders on both sides of the aisle to ensure Georgia continues to be a place where life sciences companies can innovate, invest, manufacture, and grow.
For Georgians living with serious and rare diseases, how quickly and predictably a new treatment moves through U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review can make a real difference. That predictability also matters to the researchers and businesses that make up Georgia’s growing life sciences sector. Both depend in large part on the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), a longstanding bipartisan program that Congress needs to reauthorize by 2027. How PDUFA Works Since 1992, PDUFA has allowed the FDA to collect user fees from biopharmaceutical companies to supplement the agency’s resources for reviewing new medicines. In exchange, the FDA commits to clear, predictable review timelines. The agency’s standards for safety and efficacy remain unchanged. By providing additional resources and establishing clear performance goals, PDUFA helps ensure patients can access new treatments in a more timely and predictable manner. The result of PDUFA have been significant. Before PDUFA, FDA reviews often took more than two years. Today, the median review time is 10 months for standard applications and 8 months for priority applications. In 2025, nearly 70% of new medicines were approved in the U.S. before any other country. What’s at Stake in 2027 Congress reauthorizes PDUFA every five years. The current agreement, PDUFA VII, expires September 30, 2027. Timely reauthorization is critical to maintaining the FDA’s review capacity, preserving regulatory predictability, and ensuring patients continue to benefit from medical innovation. Georgia stakeholders recently came together to talk through what that means here at home. On October 28, Georgia Life Sciences, the MTS Sickle Cell Foundation, and Georgia First hosted “PDUFA: How Medicines Reach People,” a lunch-and-learn at Brookhaven City Centre. Patient advocates, congressional staff, and business and academic leaders heard from Nick Magallanes of Todd Strategy Group, Natalie Crawford of Georgia First, Maria Thacker-Goethe of Georgia Life Sciences, and Mapillar Dahn of the MTS Sickle Cell Foundation. What We Heard At the event, speakers came at PDUFA from different angles, but the common thread was how the program affects Georgians. Mapillar Dahn of the MTS Sickle Cell Foundation stressed that patients need to remain at the center of conversations. As a mother of three daughters with Sickle Cell Disease, Mapillar stressed that she wants the FDA to have what it needs to carry out a thorough review without unnecessary delays. The confidence families place in a treatment depends in part on confidence in that process. Natalie Crawford with Georgia First and Mended Hearts spoke about the need for a fully resourced FDA so that Georgia patients have access to innovative treatments and also for a healthy Georgia economy. Additionally, Maria Thacker-Goethe spoke to what PDUFA reauthorization means for Georgia’s booming life sciences sector. She warned that without PDUFA reauthorization, research across the board will be stifled – ranging from devastating impacts to small startups to significant delays in investments and research. Part of a National Conversation As Congress prepares for the 2027 reauthorization, conversations like these help bring together patients, advocates, and community leaders to highlight the real-world importance of the program. Decisions made in this reauthorization cycle will shape FDA resources and review timelines nationwide. By reauthorizing PDUFA on time, Congress can make sure the FDA can keep reviewing new medicines efficiently and patients in Georgia and across the country can get the treatments they need.
